Page 40 of Tell Me You Like It

“Yeah,” I say casually. “Of course she is. My powers of persuasion are unmatched.”

The guys groan in unison, but it’s Christian to gives voice to their snark. “Duuude, you wish. If you were half as good as you think you are, this bitch would be wrapped around your dick by now.”

I shrug one shoulder. “Who says she isn’t?”

Christian bursts out laughing, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline, like he can’t believe the audacity of what I just said. “Dude, you’re fucking delusional. Lux is fighting you at every fucking turn. The entire school is talking about how whipped you are.”

That catches my attention. “Whipped?What the fuck?”

I’ve never been whipped by anyone. Girls are a fucking fact of life—nothing more, nothing less. They throw themselves at me, and when I want a quick fuck, I pluck a chickup out of the crowd and use her until I get what I need. Lux is no different.

Lucas leans on his pool stick and takes a sip of his coffee. “Yup, everyone is saying how fucking weird she is, and wondering why you’re so into her.”

Weird? She’s curvy, sure, and a lot more low-maintenance than I normally date. But I wouldn’t go as far as to say she’sweird.Why does that one word make me feel protective? I hate this chick. I shouldn’t care how other people see her. And I don’t. But, damn, fuck everyone else and their bullshit.

“Whatever,” I say on an exhale. “She’s coming tonight, okay?”

“Good,” Lucas says, hitting a ball into a side pocket with a loudclack.“Because we only have eight weeks until shit goes down. It’d be nice to have her locked into our narrative by then.”

“Yeah,” I respond. He doesn’t have to tell me how much time wedon’tfucking have. The twenty-first of October. That date is seared into my brain. It’s my entire fucking focus as of late.

“Do you think you can get her under control?” Christian says, and his tone tells me he’s not confident in my abilities, which annoys me.

I level a glare at him. “Have I ever failed to bring a chick under my control?”

I’ve always craved control in my life. It’s probably some bullshit leftover from my childhood. The arguments. The constant criticism, and chaos. Being separated from my brother. All that shit I couldn’t control back then.

But I can sure as fuck control it now. And even if I can’t, I’ll find a fucking way. I canalwaysfind a way.

“He’s right,” Jackson chimes in. “If anyone can make a chick do his bidding, it’s Roman.”

“Yeah, but it’s this particular chick that I’m worried about,” Jackson says. “She seems a little smarter than the others.”

“Intelligence has nothing to do with it,” I say casually, cocky now. “Chicks and their hormones are predictable. Get them revved up, and they all respond the same.”

And it’s true. Any age, any walk of life. Females all just want the same thing. They want to feel wanted. They want to feel beautiful. And I don’t give a fuck who they are, every chick wants a confident touch and a fucking orgasm–or three. They’re pretty simple creatures at the end of the day.

“Whatever, dude,” Lucas says lazily. “Just get her under control. The sooner the better.”

“Thanks, boss,” I say sarcastically, annoyance dripping from my tone. “You don’t think I know how urgent this shit is? It’smyfucking life.”

“It’sourlife, Roman. Don’t forget that,” Lucas says, flashing me some serious side-eye. “He’s a part of our crew, and we don’t abandon our brothers.”

It’s true. We all went through private school together, and our parents are all members of the Burning Crown, same as us—and because of all that, we’re solid. We’re brothers, and I know whatever happens they’ve got my back.

James is my half-brother, and only a year older than me. He’s a product of my mom’s first marriage, but his dad is up in Oregon, so James only saw him for a few weeks in the summers. The rest of the year, he was here, with me and the guys, running a fucking muck.

And while he’s not a Sacred Son, because he doesn’t have the bloodline, he’s still a member of the BurningCrown. So I know he’s a brother to Jackson, Lucas, and Christian, too.

But he’smyblood. What happened last year fucking rocked my entire family—and I’m the only one who can make things right.

So, yeah, Lux will submit to me, because she has to. Neither of us has a fucking choice.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lux

I movethrough my day in a kind of haze. I popped by Bree’s class at three–and even stayed for the entire lecture–but she never showed. I went as far as questioning her professor after class, but she hadn’t heard from Bree at all.

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